Network Diagramming

This discussion is for questions and resources to help with network documentation tasks such as data center plans, rack elevations, topology diagrams, technical proposals, facilities management, etc. Popular graphics software for these drawings include Visio (most widely used), PowerPoint, AutoCAD, OmniGraffle, SmartDraw, ConceptDraw, and several others.

We have received several requests for Visio stencils of Ciena products. Our group creates Visio libraries but we don't have them for Ciena so I've been searching for a source for this content so that I can advise people on how to find it. Does anyone know if Ciena has created Visio stencils and, if so, where they are? I've searched extensively online with no success.

We often see Visio data center or network topology drawings that have unnecessarily large file sizes. This topic just came up today through our "info" email so I thought I'd share a tip with this community. As you work on a Visio drawing, adding and deleting shapes, Visio retains an invisible record of every shape "master" that's ever been in the drawing, even after you've deleted all instances (copies) of it. These are called "unused masters" and there is an easy way to remove them. In many cases, this will significantly reduce file size. Here's our blog article from several years ago that is still relevant to all recent versions of Visio:

I registered just to say that. I work for an MSP, and create rack elevation diagrams as needed for our clients. A carrier installed a Ciena 3916 for a fiber circuit, and I wanted to update a rack layout with an appropriate stencil. I was disappointed to find out that Ciena Visio stencils are not readily available. But I can't believe a company would take an official position of not only being unwilling to provide stencils, but going as far as saying that they cannot even be bought.

Is that picture proprietary? I am not a Ciena customer. Does your internal team know that the great unwashed masses can see what it looks like? They can even save a copy of the picture! HELP, THE WEBSITE USER IS STEALING PROPRIETARY DATA....

I am being dramatically absurd to make a point. I appreciate that proper Visio stencils represent much more effort to create and have more value than a simple image. I understand that when asked about releasing internal documentation or resources, the natural/first response is "I am sorry, this cannot be shared." But please don't let the conversation die there. Making Visio stencils available demonstrates commitment to the customer by providing resources that improve their experience with your products.

I doubt you will find any people who think that Cisco, HP, Juniper, or any large networking vendor has lost reputation, sales, market value, or had any other type of negative impact from making stencils freely available.

Hi Darren - we appreciate your comments and your viewpoint. I've shared it internally and it is under review. Thanks again for taking the time to share your thoughts. Everyone at Ciena really appreciates it!

We often receive questions about how objects snap together in Visio so I'm going to offer some information about that here. If members have any questions on this or other Visio topics, I'm here to help.

When dragging a device shape from a stencil to your rack, the shape should be sized properly to fit. This is not always the case, depending on where your Visio stencils were produced, but let's assume that the sizing and shape behaviors are correct. The device shape will be a "1D shape" with endpoints that snap and glue to Visio connection points that are on the rack shape, again, if the rack shape has been done properly. As you move the rack, the device will move with it. Similarly, if the device has slots to accept modules, power supplies, line cards, etc. these items can be inserted into the devices to show the exact configuration of your technical proposal or installation. The most useful Visio shapes will have these connection points for mounting objects as well as for connecting lines to show wiring between ports. Here's an example of a rack elevation that's been constructed with the above methods:

For network topology drawings, which are a different type of illustration from rack elevations, you may want to add your own connection points to the symbols you typically use. Here are some tips that may be helpful: Tips About Visio Connection Points | VisioZone

The availability of Visio stencils is really good news for the Ciena community. Please extend a big "thank you" to the marketing team responsible for getting this done. That said, I have some comments regarding the new stencils that I will add in a new post to help users get around certain issues that I found with them. My group has many years of experience with Visio network equipment libraries so I hope this will be helpful. I'd be happy to advise the marketing team about optimizing the use of these stencils if you will forward my contact information to them. I'm not looking for anything beyond ensuring the quality of Visio content and I'd like to offer some guidance so that users will get the most benefit in terms of visual quality and smart behaviors.

This forum received great news today about the newly available Visio stencils for Ciena products. I've reviewed several of the files and I want to share some comments that I hope will be helpful to you when creating your rack elevation drawings:

The stencil files are delivered in an unusual manner. Upon opening, the shapes appear on a Visio page instead of in a stencil window at the left of the page which is more typical. This is probably because the developer saved a Visio drawing file as a Visio stencil file without actually constructing a true Visio stencil. See below... where's the stencil?Not sure why they did this other than a lack of knowledge. It's not very intuitive so I'll explain how to get the shapes into the proper useful format. Unfortunately, it requires a bunch of steps... the stencil should have been delivered in a more friendly format but I'll get you there. When done you will have the sort of Visio file that you are accustomed to seeing:

Open the .vss file from the download zip file by double clicking the file. You will see a Visio drawing page but no stencil.

Go to File>Options>Advanced and scroll down to the General section at the bottom of the window. Check the box "Run in developer mode" if it's not checked and then click OK to exit the box. Don't worry... this is not as dangerously techie as it sounds. It simply gives you more ribbon menu choices.

You should now see a Developer tab in the Visio menu... click on this.

Towards the right end of the ribbon is a check box for Document Stencil... check this.

You should see what appears to be a typical Visio stencil on the left but it's a "Document Stencil" which is different. This is a normally hidden stencil that shows an icon for every shape that has been used in the drawing page. That's a topic for another discussion.

Now, click in the Stencil window, More Shapes>New Stencil to open a new blank stencil window probably called "Stencil1".

Back in the Document Stencil window, click anywhere in the icon space and then press Ctrl-a to select them all, then Ctrl-c to copy them all.

Select the new stencil window, click anywhere in the empty window space, then press Ctrl-v to past them all into the new stencil.

Right click on the Stencil1 title bar and select Save As, then save it to the folder of your choice. Note that the download file names contain the product number but not the name of the manufacturer "Ciena" so I recommend you add Ciena to the file name to differentiate it from another manufacturer with a similar product number... there are several. You cannot use the original file name "5000 Family.vss" because it is still open in Visio so adding Ciena to the file name helps in that regard as well.

Unlike Visio stencils that you may be accustomed to from other manufacturers, these shapes have limited right click menu features but they do at least enable you to show or hide a text label for the item.

The included set of Shape Data is quite limited. To add more fields you will need to "Define Shape Data", which is another topic for another discussion.

These shapes are not as visually realistic as others. However, they should do the job in most cases although you will see the difference when placing them into racks with those from some other major manufacturers. Just be aware of this and the contrast will not surprise you when putting together a presentation drawing.

A question came up in another discussion thread regarding Ciena Visio stencils. I do not have a connection to the Ciena group that made the Visio stencils so I cannot help with availability. However, I can probably help with their use and behavior. Feel free to post your questions here and I'll do my best to assist.

I spot checked the Ciena Visio stencils today and it seems that the issue I reported earlier has been partially fixed. Several of the .vss files are now opening correctly in the Visio stencil window although some are still opening as drawings. Example: 5000 Family, Waveserver

I haven't checked them all so if you find one with this issue, following the instructions I posted previously will address the issue.

Other comments:

The CoreDirector shapes have been converted from CAD and may hang your system. I dropped a CI chassis on a drawing and it froze Visio for several minutes. There are technical reasons for this that I won't go into but I would not use this stencil until it's redone.

Several stencils such as those for Corestream are simple Visio geometry without connection points, shape data, and other programmed features. However, these stencils are quite old so they may eventually be updated if the product line is still available.

When drawing g8032 rings there's always a question of the best icon for RPL blocking. One camp says the standard US "circle with a diagonal bar" the other says "circle with a horizontal bar". In any case it gets the idea across.

This is by no means a tough choice but is one of those spots where larger design teams can hit issues with subteams/colleagues picking their preference rather than a coherent standard.

The question then is, what methods do you use to arrive at a coherent standard? Quorum? Unilateral mgmt. decision? Figure it out during final drawing/design phase?